Casinos

The World Wrestling Federation, after winning a mini-bidding war for Debbie Reynolds Hotel & Casino, said Friday it plans to convert the bankrupt Las Vegas property into a themed resort to showcase its cast of hulking characters. The WWF was forced to raise its initial $10-million offer after an outside creditor appeared in court to bid $10.5 million. But the WWF upped its final offer to $10.6 million, which was approved Friday by U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Las Vegas.

A tribe is preparing to invest more than $100 million in an expansion and upgrade of its Vegas-style casino in the Santa Ynez Valley, tripling the size of its hotel and opening the door to negotiations that could lead to a greater footprint in California's $7-billion Indian gambling industry. But word of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians' expansion plan has ratcheted up tension and distrust between the Native Americans and some of their neighbors in Santa Barbara County. "It's huge - a huge expansion," said Robert F. Field, a local resident.

On the morning of Nov. 21, 1980, the sound of sirens stirred Rafael Patino from bed. "Usually when you hear sirens, they come and then they go," he said. "But these were coming and staying." When he looked out the window of his 16th-floor room, he realized that the Las Vegas MGM Grand Hotel was on fire. "I woke up my wife and we got dressed to leave," said Patino, an Irvine sales executive. "But when we walked out of the room, we couldn't see anything. The hall was pitch black with smoke.

Re "Reining in for-profit colleges," Editorial, March 23 Profit-driven education leads only to greed and corruption. I taught at a for-profit college and was shocked at the quality of students who passed the school's "entrance exam" yet sat clueless in my classroom. These schools prey on poor, desperate individuals looking to better themselves, only to be fooled into enrolling in programs that have no real value. These schools are primarily interested in one thing: money. With recruiters drawing good salaries, you bet their sales pitches are aggressive.

Re "Facebook IPO flop drawing increased scrutiny," May 23 The best that can be said for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's continuing attack on "insider trading" is that it makes the market safer for the professional gamblers. The worst that can be said is that it deludes a public investor into believing that he or she has a chance to win. In reality, a public stock owner will always be the last to know and can only invest long after all the speculative gains have been taken by the guys who spend all day watching the computer screens and making flash trades.

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nevada's largest casinos suffered a combined $4 billion loss in 2011. A report released Friday by the state Gaming Control Board shows 256 casinos grossed $1 million or more in gambling revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30. Combined, they had total revenue of $22 billion and posted a net loss of $3.9 billion from the previous year. In 2010, the largest casinos had a net loss of $3.4 billion on total revenues of almost $20.9 billion. Total revenue includes money spent by patrons on gambling, rooms, food, beverages and attractions.

Re "A bad bet on Indian casinos," Editorial, Aug. 19 I understand concerns over the potential negative consequences if Indian gaming is permitted to expand to areas far from tribal lands. On the other hand, there is a valid question as to whether the prosperity of a tribe should depend on mere fortuity. There are far more impoverished Native Americans in California than there are those who are thriving. The conduct of the relatively fortunate few who have benefited from Proposition 1A and other changes in the law shows they have no intention of sharing their newfound wealth.

Indian gambling has brought long-needed financial gains to Native American tribes as well as a measure of painful internal strife. In California, reservations where dilapidated mobile homes once dominated the landscape are now dotted with attractive new housing developments, playgrounds, and community, health and fitness centers. At the same time, according to academics and other experts on tribal affairs, gambling wealth has given new impetus to the disenrollment of thousands of California's Native Americans from their tribes by others who want to maximize their share of the money.

The issue hasn't gotten much statewide attention, but Gov. Jerry Brown has a decision to make on Indian gambling that could have major impacts down the road for the casino landscape. And that's the literal meaning of casino landscape. Previously, tribes with existing reservations have located their casinos on those reservations. Now, two tribes whose reservations are in difficult-to-access locations are seeking to build casinos miles from those reservations, near Northern California cities (Madera and Marysville)

The economy may have dug itself out of the worst recession in a generation, but gamblers apparently are still reluctant to put their money at risk in U.S. Indian casinos. Gambling revenue at tribal casinos slowed in 2012, growing at a slower pace than non-tribal casinos for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to a report released Wednesday. Indian casino revenue grew 2% to $28.1 billion, half the pre-recession growth of 4% in 2007, according to Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report.

The economy may have dug itself out of the worst recession in a generation, but gamblers apparently are still reluctant to put their money at risk in U.S. Indian casinos. Gambling revenue at tribal casinos slowed in 2012, growing at a slower pace than non-tribal casinos for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to a report released Wednesday. Indian casino revenue grew 2% to $28.1 billion, half the pre-recession growth of 4% in 2007, according to Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report.

The gig: Ray Adamyk, 52, is president of Spectra Co., a Pomona firm that has played a major role in restoring such prominent historic buildings as the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, the Catalina Casino in Avalon and the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. In his view, preservation and environmentalism are two sides of the same coin. "The greenest building is one that already exists," he said. "I think people want to see old buildings restored. " Early days: Adamyk was born in England and reared in Canada, where he enjoyed physically demanding sports in his school days.

Downtown Las Vegas knew him as the guy who wore wacky ties and kept his pockets stuffed with coupons for a free lunch at El Cortez Hotel and Casino. When he met someone new, he handed them a "fun book," as the vouchers are sometimes called, and introduced himself: Jackie - just Jackie - not Mr. Gaughan. A kingpin of the old, original part of Las Vegas known as Glitter Gulch, Gaughan at one point owned or had interest in about a quarter of downtown Las Vegas, including the Golden Nugget, Union Plaza and Las Vegas Club.

Counties in California have failed to properly document how $1.7 million in Indian gaming money was distributed, according to an audit released Thursday by the California state auditor's office. State lawmakers earmarked $39 million for the Indian gaming special distribution fund between the fiscal years 2010 and 2013, money which was then distributed to local governments to offset the impact of casinos in the area. The money often funds public safety, public health and roads projects.

How drunk is too drunk to gamble? A Southern California man has sued a Las Vegas casino after he lost $500,000 on blackjack and pai gow over Super Bowl weekend, contending he shouldn't be responsible for his losses because he was blackout drunk. In the lawsuit, Mark Johnston, 52, of Ventura, accuses the Downtown Grand casino of plying him with drinks and lending him money so he could keep playing. Johnston, a longtime gambler, acknowledges that he went on a drinking binge before he ever reached the casino floor.

Harrah's casino and resort near San Diego is changing its name and look. The renamed Harrah's Resort Southern California in Valley Center adds a tower with 430 new rooms and suites as part of a $160-million upgrade and expansion slated to be done in April, the company announced Tuesday. The former Harrah's Rincon Casino & Resort opened in 2002 on land owned by the Rincon Band of Luiseno Indians. Renovations began in October 2012 and has been rolling out in phases. Last July the resort opened three pools that feature a swim-up bar and lazy river.

More than a quarter of adult Americans - that's nearly 60 million people - went to commercial casinos in 2011, according to the American Gaming Assn. And a quarter of those folks don't even gamble. It's partly by focusing on other attractions, such as nightclubs, fine dining, galleries, roller coasters and bold-faced performers such as Celine Dion, that the country's gambling halls are now seeing an uptick in revenue . The 492 non-tribal casinos in the U.S. took in $35.6 billion in revenue last year, a 3% improvement from 2010.

Kentucky has historically -- and famously -- been racehorse country. It hasn't traditionally been casino country. That may soon change, now that a proposed constitutional amendment to allow casinos in the state appears headed to a full vote of the state Senate. What remains unclear is whether the casino amendment will end up hurting or helping the horse-racing business, the state's signature industry and one deeply tied to Kentucky's mythic sense of self. The bill, which has the backing of Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, could be voted on by the Senate as early as Thursday -- although there are some calls to delay the vote.

Apparently casinos are good for losing more than just cash. A study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. found that adding slot machines to California casinos was linked to a modest reduction in obesity rates for Native American children. Specifically, researchers found that for every one-armed bandit added per child, there was a corresponding 0.19% reduction in obesity risk. Study authors based their conclusions on an examination of 117 California school districts that encompass tribal lands.

The most sinister video you're likely to find online just now comes from people who oppose online gambling. "Disreputable gaming interests are lobbying hard to spread Internet gambling throughout the country," a voice over intones. Cue the grainy black-and-white footage of something sketchy going on in an alleyway, the ominous music and allusions to criminal "syndicates" and terrorism. The narrator warns that "an established Al Qaeda poker network could extract enough untraceable money from the United States in just a few days to fund several 9/11-sized attacks.